Linktree is a freemium[1]social mediareference landing page[2] developed by Alex Zaccaria, Anthony Zaccaria, and Nick Humphreys, headquartered in Melbourne,[3]Australia.[4] Founded in 2016, it serves as a landing page for a person or company's entire associated links in social media, which rarely allows linking to multiple sites.[5] The site was inspired by the developers' annoyance with social media that cannot or do not allow multiple hyperlinks.[6]
Linktree was established in 2016, out of annoyance regarding social media that do not allow multiple hyperlinks in profiles.[6] The site was created in six hours.[6] It is reported to have gained 3,000 users overnight,[when?] which caused the server to crash due to overload.[6] In 2018, Instagram banned the site[7] due to "spam", although it was lifted and Instagram issued an apology.[6] In December 2018, the number of users reached 1 million, then 3 million by the end of 2019. By October 2020, Linktree had gained more than 8 million users.[8][9]
As of March 2021, the number of users reached nearly 16 million, with an increase of 300% over the previous year.[10]
In August 2021 Linktree announced the acquisition of smart link provider Odesli to become a "one-stop-shop" for musicians seeking to monetize their art.[11]
Features and subscriptions
Linktree is a freemium service: it is free, but also offers a 'Pro' subscription launched in April 2017,[6] which gives more benefits, such as more customization options, more detailed analytics, email sign-up integration, removal of the Linktree logo, etc.[12] Users can upload as many links as they wish despite not subscribing.[13] Pro analytics allows users to view their click-through rates. Both offerings allow users to create a personalized and customizable page, that houses all social media links and official websites. Linktree also partnered with Amazon, allowing users to upload their Amazon store profile as an affiliate link.[14] Amid the George Floyd protests, Linktree allowed users to adopt a 'Support Anti-Racism' icon, which pops a tab linking visitors to articles to further understand racism, organizations to donate to, and places to protest.[clarification needed]
Accolades
In 2019, Linktree was included in CNBC's 'Upstart 100' list of "brightest, most intriguing, young startups promising to become the great companies of tomorrow."[15] In March 2020, Fast Company placed Linktree as fourth place in the 'Most Innovative Companies of 2020' list in the 'Social media' category for "making Instagram's 'link in bio' into a sleek menu for sharing articles, merch, or paid partnerships."[3] For comparison's sake, in that year the first place was Cameo and the third Pinterest; while the fourth place of other years[16] were Reddit (2018 and 2021), Are.na (2019) and Genies, Inc. (2022).
Instagram ban
It is reported that Linktree, started as a link-in-bio tool for Instagram, was banned from Instagram in 2018,[7] since it is noted as "breaking the community standards," specifically as a spam website.[6][17] Linktree stated that they were "working on it" with their "representatives on Instagram."[17] This ban was lifted after thousands of users advocated on Linktree's behalf. Although the ban was lifted and Instagram issued an apology,[12] as of March 2021, Instagram accounts for less than 40% of Linktree's profile traffic.[18]
Funding
On October 27, 2020, Linktree announced that it had received US$10.7 million in Series A financing from Airtree Ventures and Insight Partners. The funding is the company's first from an institutional investor.[8] On March 26, 2021, Linktree announced the closing of a $45M Series B financing round. The round was co-led by Index Ventures and Coatue, with participation from returning investors Airtree Ventures and Insight Partners.[19] After raising $110M in January 2022, and offering to pay its employees $6,000 in a yearly bonus, the company announced it would fire 17% of its workforce citing changing dynamics. It did not reveal cash on hand.
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